Articles

Employment Law Update: The EEOC and DOL’s Coordinated Enforcement Approach

What Does This Mean For Employers

Date: October 18, 2023
Last month, the Equal Employment Opportunity Commission (EEOC) and the Department of Labor (DOL) entered into a Memorandum of Understanding (MOU) intended to improve their enforcement of federal employment laws. Prior to this MOU, each agency operated in a fairly siloed manner and without much collaboration. 

The MOU indicates a swift departure, with stated increased cooperation and coordination between the agencies and highlights the Exchange of Information to occur in many ways.

Considering this, here are some critical items for employers to consider:
 
  • Shared Information. The EEOC and DOL will share information with each other regarding complaints, investigations, and enforcement activities. This will happen by request of one agency or upon an agency’s own initiative and covers any information or data that supports the other agency’s enforcement activities.
 
  • Joint Investigations and Coordinated Enforcement. If the case warrants, the EEOC and DOL will partner on investigations. Audits, investigation, and scrutiny by both agencies may occur (think sex discrimination and wage and hour violations, for example). The agencies will also be training each other on how to spot potential violations. Employers now must be prepared for a wider lens of behavior to be evaluated. The agencies are intentionally going out of their respective lanes.
     
  • Referrals. If one agency identifies conduct or behavior that may fall under the umbrella of the other agency, that agency will advise the complainant and encourage them to file a charge or complaint on the conduct with the relevant agency.

Employers must be sensitive to the intentionality that these two agencies have on partnering together. Information provided to one should now be assumed to be delivered to the hands of the other, and possibly flagged for further process.
The information contained here is not intended to provide legal advice or opinion and should not be acted upon without consulting an attorney. Counsel should not be selected based on advertising materials, and we recommend that you conduct further investigation when seeking legal representation.